Chapter Nine: A Destiny Recalled

By Ellwyn J

"It seems I was wrong," her father finished, a glint of hatred burning in his eyes.

He then raised his hands and suddenly Ellwyn felt as though her feet were no longer touching the ground. She looked down and glimpsed the floor, several feet below. Her father clenched his hand. Ellwyn groped at her neck; some invisible force was strangling her. Pain wracked through her entire body and her vision was beginning to cloud. She let out a strange choking sound as tears came to her eyes. Her eyes drifted wildly over her father's face—and she saw then that he was crying. The twisted malevolence in his face was beginning to vanish.

An unwanted wave of pity swept over her as she watched the growing distress in her father's eyes. His pale eyes were beginning to soften once more, and the wretch that was trying to kill her suddenly became her father again. He lowered his hands and Ellwyn crumpled to the floor lifelessly, struggling to breathe.

"My dear…" she heard him say shakily, "…what have I done? Please, Ell, forgive me. I have done so much evil…"

Ellwyn, after fully regaining her senses, raised her head and saw her old father's aged face. He looked tired and haggard, and appeared to be on the verge of sobbing. "Father…what has happened to you?" she asked in a meek voice.

"Please, take my hand," he said pleadingly, "let us leave this place. We can return home. We can go back to how we were, so long ago…just take my hand."

She felt herself getting to her feet with much effort and extending her hand to his. What am I doing? He killed my mother, he killed so many others… She let her hand drop to her side as she suddenly was reminded of the faces staring back at her from the shadows of the stairs. But he is different. He has changed…has he not? Ellwyn's mind reeled as she struggled to overcome the part of her that hated the man in front of her, wanted to fulfill her sole purpose of coming here, to kill him.

"Ellwyn, my dear, my daughter!" His eyes shone with so much desperation. Oh, how she wanted to just throw herself into his arms and leave this miserable place…

Her hand slowly lifted.

Legolas stirred suddenly from where he lay on the other side of the chamber. He raised his eyes and let out a yell. Neither father or daughter heeded him; they seemed to be immersed in their own world. Then he saw their hands, only a hair's breadth away from each other. Upon reflex, he reached back and let an arrow fly at her father.

But it did not hit its mark, nor did it even come within a foot of the man before it disintegrated rapidly and fell to the floor like mere specks of dust. Legolas watched, dumbfounded, but only for a split second. If no weapon could harm the man, somehow, Legolas knew that his daughter could.

An arrow struck the floor just inches away from Ellwyn's left foot. For a moment, Legolas thought it would not work. But it was enough to bring her back into reality. The dazed look disappeared from her eyes and she tried to spring away.

But her father already had a hold of her hand, and he was clutching it like a madman. A black light suddenly enveloped the two of them and Legolas watched, horrified, as a rush of white sprang up from Ellwyn's skin and moved towards her father. He was beginning to suck her soul out of her body, giving her spirit to the dark lord in exchange for more power.

There was a deafening roar all about them, and Ellwyn was screaming desperately. She felt her hand growing cold; the death spread rapidly up her arm and reached her shoulder. Her mind was completely void of all comprehension—all she could think of to do was to escape his grasp somehow. But the death was spreading too quickly through her body. She was weakening.

Legolas was running to them as fast as his legs could carry him. But he slammed into an invisible barrier when he reached them and was thrown aside. He released two more arrows into the midst of the blackness to no avail. Finally, he screamed rather hopelessly, "Reno!" Remember!

The word snapped Ellwyn back to her senses. She stopped struggling and, with her last remaining strength, yanked the chain off her neck and thrust the sharp end of the silver leaf blindly into her father's neck.

The air was still. Her father's eyes were widened, and pale white faded into nothingness. His cold hand dropped Ellwyn's and his body shuddered violently.

Suddenly a massive tremor shook the ground and both Ellwyn and Legolas were knocked off their feet. They struggled to stand, but another tremor came to throw them off their feet once more. Another tremor. Then another. It seemed as though the cavern itself was a part of her father and was collapsing with the death of its master. A huge chasm was opening in the midst of the chamber, and all Ellwyn could discern in it was utter darkness. She struggled to find safety near the wall as the chasm widened.

Then the stone cracked beneath her father's feet, and he fell. He fell, still clutching his neck, into the darkness. Ellwyn cringed as a bloodcurdling scream issued from her father's lips and bounced off the walls of the chamber.

The quakes were becoming stronger now. Ellwyn felt herself slip against the stone, and she screamed. The next thing she knew, she was dangling above the darkness, wildly clutching at the ledge.

The ground stopped shaking suddenly. But her body was weak still, and her hand was beginning to slip. She shut her eyes tightly, clenched her jaw, and struggled to hold on to it. Then she remembered the image in the mirror and a thought came to her that she did not have a fighting chance. So she let her strength melt away and let go.

But she wasn't falling. Instead, a strong hand was grasping her wrist and hauling her up. Legolas had rushed over to her in an instant. He pulled her to safety, and they both lay there, panting, for many moments. He sat up first and bent over her, a frantic look in his eyes.

"Are you all right?" he asked suddenly, breaking the silence.

Ellwyn nodded weakly and watched as his face broke out into a relieved grin. But then she gasped as a sudden spasm jolted through her body. Legolas' heart lurched painfully when he saw the color in her eyes suddenly paling before him. She inhaled sharply, her body convulsing uncontrollably.

"No!" Legolas yelled, grabbing her hand and clutching it to his chest. "What is happening?" he cried into the air, as if challenging fate itself. "No…"

Ellwyn was fighting the cold that was covering over her body. She fought it valiantly, and the paleness gradually faded from her eyes, though it lingered there and would continue to grow. She stopped gasping and lay still. Legolas looked up through his desperate tears.

Then she managed to whisper, barely audibly, "Legolas…I'm so sorry. You must leave me here, I am fated to die alongside my father…"

He shook his head in defiance. "No! Ellwyn, you're going to live. I am going to see to it that you live, heniag? Do you understand?" Legolas gathered her limp body in his arms and lifted her carefully. The ground was beginning to shake threateningly under his feet.

Ellwyn shut her eyes and smiled feebly. She felt Legolas' warmth spread through her once more and felt comforted. A small part of her wanted to believe that he would find a way for her to live yet within her heart she knew that her gradual perishing was irrevocable.

"Orcs…" she murmured as they moved towards the door, the cavern floor growling louder with each step of the elf.

"They are gone," Legolas answered after tilting his head to listen intently. He was puzzled for a few moments, but then he knew the reason why the creatures had suddenly disappeared. "The quake must have frightened them away from here. They sense the death of their Master."

"I'm sorry," she whispered again. Legolas ignored her.

The next moments were a blur to her: she saw the cavern's darkness giving way to the bright but cold sunlight filtering through the grey clouds that covered its face, then felt something warm nuzzle her cheek. "Phaere," she managed to say before lapsing into a state of half consciousness. Legolas placed her carefully on the horse who had been waiting outside the cavern after the Orcs had disseminated.

He mounted behind her and rode through the mountain pass in silence, leaving the black tower and the collapsing cavern behind them. The air was dead.

Then they reached the open air, and Legolas took one last look back at the mountains of shadow before turning back to whisper to the girl who was struggling to remain conscious, "Mellen, ú-annathon dhâf angen gwanno." My dear, I will not let you die. They rode over the withering grasslands of Northern Ithilien and began the journey back to the Anduin.

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Disclaimer: All names, places, or plot/history affiliated with LOTR are entitled to J.R.R. Tolkien. The rest is from my imagination. If there are any errors in the history/land/names of anything related to Tolkien's works, please inform me.